Surface investigations of refractory metals at atomic level with the field-ion microscope and atom probe

Abstract

The unique possibility to image simultaneously different crystal net planes and to study dynamic processes on metal surfaces with the field-ion microscope (FIM), and to analyse single field desorbed atoms and atom layers with atom probes, is discussed for refractory metals and alloys. The new position sensitive FIM atom probes allow one to obtain a three-dimensional reconstruction of the field desorbed volume, which renders possible the ability to see directly the distribution of different alloy components and nanoprecipitates.